The Evolution of Video Game Programming By Jerad

The Evolution of Video Game Programming By: Jerad Waas

An Overview Video Game History n Programming Disciplines n The Game Development Process n The Present and the Future of Gaming n

Video Game History The n The n Origins 1960 s 1970 s 1980 s 1990 s 2000 s

History - The Origins n n n Disputed origins 1950 s, 1960 s, 1970 s William Higinbotham n n 1958 Entertain guests at Brookhaven Ntl Lab Oscilloscope & Simple Computer Tennis For Two

History - The 1960 s n n n Tech Model Railroad Club - MIT Developed Spacewar! On a PDP-1 9 KB Firsts for industry: n n Game to be shared over a network Widely available n $120, 000

History - The 1960 s - PDP-1 Paper tape PDP-1 replica

History - The 1960 s n Ralph Baer n Developed a couple of games: n n Tag Volleyball Ping Pong Together with Bill Harrison n Created the Light Gun

History - The 1960 s - Light Gun n How does it work? n Photodiode n n n Senses light on screen Screen blacks out Diode begins reception Portion of the screen is painted white - typically the target you are aiming for If diode senses black then white - hit!

History - The 1970 s n 1972 - The first wave of Magnavox Odysseys were sold n n n ~ $100 Quickly sold 100, 000 Sales quickly diminished after

History - The 1970 s n Nolan Bushnell & Ted Dabney n n Turn Spacewar! Into a coin-op arcade machine 1971 - They found a manufacturer in n Nutting Associates § Coin-op manufacturer n n 1, 500 machines To complex!

History - The 1970 s n Bushnell & Dabney n n Leave Nutting Start up a new company n n Simple tennis game n n n Atari Pong ~ $1, 200 1972 - First units on sale n n ~ 8, 500 units in first year ~ 19, 000 total

History - The 1970 s n Atari reluctantly decides to test the home market n n Atari sells the idea to Sears n n n Magnavox Odyssey $100 version of Pong Sears’ biggest selling item Home version of Pong n n Atari “on the map” Household name

History - The 1970 s n 1972 n n Steve Jobs joins Atari Technician Exposes Steve Wozniak to Atari and Pong They later form Apple in 1976

History - The 1970 s n 1975 n n n Midway Gun Fight Two firsts in the industry: n First video game to utilize a microprocessor § Intel 8080 § Random events n First video game to be imported from Japan

History - The 1970 s n 1976 n n Apple founded Steve Wozniak n n Created Breakout Two firsts for the industry: n n Software was used to run a video game Breakout was programmed in a computer language § Previously, machine code

History - The 1970 s n Namco n 1974 n n Bought the Japanese division of Atari 1979 n Developed the first color video game § Galaxian § Instant success

History - The 1980 s n Pac-Man n Shows the industry two things: n n Innovation is important Merchandising! § Cereals § TV-Shows § T-Shirts…etc

History - 1980 s n 1985 n Nintendo Entertainment System n n n Bundled with Super Mario Brothers Dominated the North American market D-pad now became standard

History - The 1990 s n Shareware becomes popular because of: n n n Doom Wolfenstein 3 D Demo n n n First portion of the game Good way to show off their game Many companies mimicked id Software

History - The 1990 s n 1996 n n n 3 dfx releases the Voodoo chipset Quake was among the first to utilize standalone graphics cards Devoted 3 D rendering cards n Allowed CPU to handle other computations

History - The 1990 s n 3 D era n 32 bit era brings 2 major consoles to consumers n n n Sega Saturn Sony Playstation After many delays… n n n Nintendo 64 64 bit system Revolutionary system

History - The 1990 s n Nintendo 64 n n 1. 5 million units sold in three months Many critically acclaimed games n n n Super Mario 64 Goldeneye 007 The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time

History - The 2000 s n Current Generation n Microsoft n n Nintendo n n Playstation 2 DVD capability n n Gamecube Sony n n XBOX PS 2 & XBOX Backwards compatibility n PS 2

Disciplines n n n n n Game Physics Programmer AI Programmer Graphics Programmer Sound Programmer UI Programmer Input Programmer Network Programmer Game Tools Programmer Porting Programmer Lead Game Programmer

Disciplines - Physics n n Developing the physics in the game Processor cycles are at a premium n n Efficiency is key FPS games typically demand large teams of physics programmers

Disciplines - AI n n n Develops the logic that the game uses Has developed into a specialized area as of late Pathfinding, strategy, and enemy tactics According to Game Developer Magazine - 60% of time Real time strategy and first person shooters

Disciplines - Graphics Programmers who specialize in developing and modifying complex 3 D graphics n 2 D graphics abilities are still useful though n n Cell Phones PDAs Scarce in industry n Demand high salaries

Disciplines - Sound n n Full musical scores - been around 3 D positional sound - recent n n n First person shooters Programmers try to include the newest technologies Games with large soundtracks or advanced audio, demand teams of sound programmers

Disciplines - User Interface n Very important! n n Most user interfaces are 2 D n n Must be intuitive, useful-feature, clean, and easy to use Some interfaces are developed with the same 3 D technology as the rest of the game Advanced interfaces allow custom scripting

Disciplines - User Interface n LUA XML World of Warcraft n n! n n

Disciplines - Input n Writes code that determines how the player will use the input devices n n Controller Joystick Keyboard & Mouse Wii controller n Motion sensing technology

Disciplines - Input n Programmers must recognize and adhere to controller standards n n WASD A (X) - accept // next B (triangle) - back // cancel If standards are not followed, gamers will be confused

Disciplines - Network n n Writes the code that allows players to play the game on a LAN and or on the internet Very important in Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) n n Latency control is especially important Programmers cannot assume all consumers have broadband n n Must be efficient Might be dial-up gamers

Disciplines - Game Tools n n Write code to handle tasks like scripting, converting art, batches, modifying the game and levels Half-Life 2 n Source SDK n n Create levels (Hammer) Facial animations

Disciplines - Porting n Porting is very important, especially for companies like EA n n n Games available on almost every platform May involve the tools programmer to help convert content Some code may have to be re-written to utilize different hardware

Disciplines - Lead n n n Keeps the programmers focused, and on track Quite often a middle man between the client and programmers Should have a general base knowledge of all aspects of the game n n Sound Graphics Networking Etc.

The Game Development Process n n n n Prototyping Game Design Language API & Libraries Production Crunch Time Maintenance

Process - Prototyping Very similar to normal applications n Test ideas and algorithms n Give the customer and early glimpse n Early screenshots n n Good way to gain early popularity

Process - Language n What language to use? n Many dependencies n n Staff Platform Language of the game engine Most popular n C++

Process - API & Libraries n Which API & Libraries to use? n Tons of libraries out there n n n Also depends on target platform n n Sound processing Input Graphics rendering Pathfinding Libraries for PS 2 may not be available for XBOX 360 Graphics API? n n Direct. X Open. GL

Process - API & Libraries n A collection of APIs n Direct 3 D n n Not portable n Designed specifically for Microsoft products n n The 3 D graphics API Pocket PC XBOX Windows Revised more frequently then Open. GL n Utilizes the latest features of 3 D graphics cards

Process - API & Libraries n Portable 3 D API n Easily ported to and from n n Windows <-> Mac. OS < -> Linux Revised infrequently

Process - Production Bulk of the time n Code…code n Design documents are constantly changing n Lead regularly reports status to supervisor n Develop game tools n

Process - Crunch Time Towards the end of the production phase n Productivity is not proportional to extra hours n n 2 x hours != 2 x productivity Adding extra staff may not increase productivity n Quality decreases as time increases n

Process - Maintenance n Console n n Pre-current generation - next to impossible Hard drives and online- now possible n n Patches and new content PC n Numerous hardware / software combinations n n Patches are inevitable MMO Genre n n Extensive maintenance phase New content is always required

The Present and the Future of Gaming Multithreaded Gaming n HD Gaming n Next Generation n

Present & Future - Threading Split up processes n Games w/ multiple threads n n n Run more efficiently on HT or multicore processesors XBOX 360 and PS 3 n Multiple processors

Present & Future - HD n n Popularity of HDTV Red - Green - Blue n n Instead of Yellow HD offers: n n n Improved textures Improved character models Higher pixel count

Present & Future - “Next Gen” n Microsoft n n n Nintendo n n XBOX 360 HD-DVD Wii November Motion sensing technology Sony n n n Playstation 3 November Blu-ray

References n n n n Computer and Video Games n http: //en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Computer_and_video_games Game Programming n http: //en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Game_programming History of Computer and Video Games n http: //en. wikipedia. org/wiki/History_of_computer_and_video_games Game Programmer n http: //en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Game_programmer History of Video Game Programming n http: //everything 2. com/index. pl? node_id=1185238 How does the light gun for a video game work? n http: //www. howstuffworks. com/question 273. htm History of the video game industry n http: //www. pong-story. com/intro. htm